Could Nvidia’s new Mac Mini-like small-form-factor AI supercomputer usher in a major disruption for Windows PCs? Let’s dive into Project Digits, what it is, and what it brings to the table for the future.

Project Digits: What it is and what it isn’t

It’s a little unfair to compare the Mac Mini and Nvidia’s Project Digits, mainly because they target vastly different users and markets. After all, the Mac Mini is for home users who just want to do some web browsing, media streaming, and maybe light content creation or gaming. And on the side, you have Apple Intelligence for AI in that ecosystem.

But then you have Project Digits, a powerhouse mini PC infused with the power of Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell GB10 Superchip. The idea here is to pack an AI supercomputer into a small chassis that’s usable by scientists, students, and AI researchers in a very focused manner. That’s reflected in its price: A whopping $3,000 that proves it’s meant to be more of a professional-level device. It launches around May 2025.

Project Digits runs on the GB10 Superchip, meant to run large language models (LLMs) with up to 200 billion parameters. If you connect two of them, they can together handle up to 405 billion parameters. It’s perfect for AI researchers and inference models.

Yet while the built-in GPU is fine-tuned for AI with 128GB of unified memory, there’s no reason why Nvidia couldn’t adapt it for use in a Windows-like gaming PC in the future. Even now, Project Digits is already much more powerful than any traditional PC or laptop, with 1 petaflop of power. (For comparison, modern high-end gaming PCs only reach up to 10 teraflops — the equivalent of 0.01 petaflops.)

Mac Mini users could use their systems for some AI work, but most are just using them as personal computers for mundane, personal tasks. Imagine if Nvidia tuned Project Digits in that direction? As is, Project Digits is an enthusiast- and professional-level product, but what if Nvidia honed it to become like the Mac Mini? A consumer-grade PC with unprecedented power that’s even more revolutionary than the M4 Mac Mini.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang believes AI will go mainstream and make its way into virtually every industry and facet of human life. If he’s right about that, a small yet powerful AI supercomputer could be a game-changer, much like the smartphone was for everyday life. (I wouldn’t doubt Jensen Huang, who’s been a near-unparalleled visionary thus far.)

This means Nvidia would want its AI to have more personal applications for everyday consumers, not just for research or data center purposes. For now, Project Digits gives those who would normally be working in such environments the ability to bring their work home, and that’s one step closer to bringing AI into the personal home space.

By: DocMemory
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